I remember being quite impressed when I saw the previews for the DC Direct Jade bust, part of the Terry Dodson designed series 2 of their Women of DC bust line. I like me some alien coloured women, she had a cool looking energy base, seemed like a slam dunk. Unforunately, things weren’t quite how they seemed, check under the cut to find out why!

Where to start? There’s so much that went wrong but was so close to being right. The energy base doesn’t look as good as it should. It’s sculpted well, the energy waves swirling around are nice and of course they’re swirling away from her ass so that’s on display, haha. Oh pinup styles. The paint is the issue. It’s a bland and uninspired green, it needs deeper shading and brighter highlights. It would’ve been better to make it translucent like the Starfire base.

The face looks so much different from the prototype. The prototype had a wider head and a much nicer smile. It gave it a softer look instead of the doofy one you see present in my pictures. When you combine that with how they’ve changed the angle of the head, it’s much worse than it was. I have no clue why they agreed to these changes.

The lack of refined paint lines in some areas and the hair don’t help matters either. Just look at that hair paint, ugh. Even with the face changes, I think a talented painted could improve it’s appearance considerably. Her body and pose are sculpted just fine after all. Unfortunately, I’m not enough of a Jade fan to make that happen.

2/5.

Buying Options : There are plenty available on Ebay. Cheap on Amazon too.

Anyone* that places a pre-order for ANY of our upcoming Marvel pieces (or purchases one of the few remaining Captain America Movie Mini Busts – another SDCC exclusive) between now and Noon (PST) on Monday, September 19th is eligible to win one of FIVE of these lovely little homicidal varmints. I will post the winners here on our blog at noon on Tuesday, September 20th.

If you’re interested, head on over and preorder!

Hi Folks-

We wanted to make something special for the folks who’ve shown us the most support over the years

The idea was to recognize our best customers from the past 12 years. The folks who’ve spent the most money with us, buying direct: Not the retailers or distributors. (Although there’s no way for us to know if some of our individual club members or buyers, work for or own comic shops).

Because of the limited nature of the piece, we decided to place a call to each of the collectors to see if they were interested. If the person decided to ‘pass’ then the offer was made to the next person down the list.

These are pretty pricey (around $300 per pair with club discount) because of the process, and all the shipping back and forth involved. But we felt that this would be a nice little ‘thank you’ for the folks that have given us the biggest support over the years.

We’re very sorry if this has created angst among some, but there will be other special items for club members in the coming months. (A shiny FS piece is coming soon) The next special piece may be done on a lottery system, because it too, will be very limited.

That’s the bust that was limited to 85. Lots of grumbling on the various forums about it but it seems like a decent enough thing to do for a super exclusive. Although I’m not a completist and from many of the complaints I saw, lots of people were angry about it from that perspective.

It’s good to see a statue producer making a public statement about such an expensive item and being willing to address the issues. If you haven’t purchased direct and want this piece, I’d consider waiting for Sideshow’s shipment of it, which will add another layer of quality customer service (either they’ll replace/refund it or Fred will).

“First, I want you all to know that I am aware of your criticisms about the bust and I am taking steps to address as many of your concerns as I can as we continue production on the unit.

It is absolutely your right to critique the piece and I appreciate the input. However, I don’t appreciate being trashed. I don’t deserve it and neither does the piece. I’ve been in business for over 25 years, and I’ve never pulled a bait and switch, broke any promises, manufactured or sold sub-standard work, left a customer hanging or had to defend my character or my work in any way. – Until now on this forum. My work is on display all over the world and collected by billionaires and hard working Joe’s alike. I treat everyone exactly the same. We’re all fans who live and love this stuff and I tell it like it is. I think that would be appreciated.

I will do as much as I can to make everyone happy with their product.

I would like to address some of your input point by point:

· The “slop” in the face next to the chin strap: The line that is sculpted in by the cheeks and strap is not machined. It represents human flesh and a crappy rubber chin strap as seen in the film. In order to make this look more human, and not a CG toy, there is a bit of wavering on the line and the spacing is completely uneven between the flesh tone and the black. I think when this bust is viewed properly and not put under a macro lens or microscope, the face and overall unit looks fantastic and real. Not like a shrunken toy as a lot of other busts that have been made over the years. I like it, I think it looks accurate and adds a element of realism to it.

· The differing shine of the chest: This is not a flaw, it was done intentionally to add depth and color at the top of the chest which is airbrushed with two colors. – Deep blue and violet. I didn’t want the whole thing to have the wet look. I was trying to get a Robo 1 look and we all know, he was not that shinny. It changed from scene to scene. If anything it is already too glossy, but I think it is fine as is and I like it. If I wanted to go for that Robo 3 wet look – that’s a different story, for now, this is it.

· It’s too light: I never measure art by the pound like a piece of pork.

· The head/helmet breaks off in shipping: I’m on it. I am taking steps to prevent the head from flying off. Remember, these pieces are roto-molded and sure enough, there may be some uneven application of material on the inside creating a weak spot when beat to —- by Fedex. Who knew? They’re sealed and we all found out together where the weak spot is when Fedex and their expert staff of abusers conducted their own real world tests. Anyway, sorry to the folks who found out the hard way. Those units are of course being exchanged. The head/neck will be reinforced on all future units and I have suspended shipment for a limited time as we secure the remaining units in this run. I’m sure you’d rather wait a few more days here and there rather than receive such carnage at your door. And if the head on your unit hasn’t broken, it never will. Don’t worry about it, and don’t take a baseball bat to it either to test it.

· The paint application: I have been trying to tell people all along that I wanted this bust to look more real in person than in photographs and no two will be alike and the types of paints being used will create different effects and will catch the light in strange ways and not flow absolutely flawlessly. I “promised” an automotive finish, and the bust has that. But, the bust is not a $250,000 Bentley. It is a collectible, not a car. I can’t and won’t put a $2,500 paint job on a $850. collectible. But, I will try to do better as I care and I want these to be as good as I can reasonably make them without going broke or taking months and months more to produce. The paint on this bust incorporates costly cutting edge automotive paints and additives formulated for a desired, effect. These materials are applied both by spray gun and by hand to achieve a more realistic look as close to the original filmed costume/prop as possible. Varying degrees of depth, finish aberrations, particulate matter, pinholes, luster, and differing color hues are normal and not considered a manufacturing flaw or defect. Now, that statement is not a cop-out for a poorly applied or crappy paint job, but rather a matter of fact. The paint is not poorly applied. There have been some rejects for various reasons, and I do not send out those units.

· Chest plate/helmet is warped: I’d like to know what part of the Robocop costume was not warped with a horrible finish on it from head to toe. You’ve all seen the unit at CC 2011 and on the Sideshow site and my web site. These units are all production units and all look exactly the same. You all loved the warp, dip, wave, whatever you want to call it in the photo’s, you should accept it real life. That nuance is part of the sculpture. If you don’t like it – please don’t buy it. Save us both a lot of aggravation.

· I don’t respond to customers: Yes I do. All the time. And I work with customers until they are happy. Some guys are never satisfied, but I know I’ve still done my part best I can and I tried to work things out. Be patient. I’m on it. I may not respond instantly to some concerns or inquires, but if I have nothing to report, I have nothing to report. Rest assured that I know this piece and your hard earned money is important to you and I’m doing something about it. I’ve got a company to run and many other products I manufacture and projects in development and I receive over a hundred emails a day. I’ve got a lot going on. All the time. How much one on one can I do instantly? I would appreciate if you guys would give me a break and let me do what I can to make you the best Robocop collectibles that have ever been available. – At any price.

So that’s it for now. Please be patient as I work out the kinks. As Austin Powers fasha once said… “If you have an issue, here’s a tissue…. Just kidding. Back to work.

Best,

Fred”

Life-Size Robocop bust for $850

Snow Troll Preview

Sideshow Collectibles Green Goblin life-size bust for $600

As for the Sideshow 12″ line, check the Mos Eisley environment preview, looks damn good so far! The Map Room of Tanis preorder that just went up looks amazing as well, these 12″ environments are knocking it out of the park.

Tomorrow seems to have a Hot Toys preorder as well…possibly one of the exclusives? I dunno!